A Jacksonville native is now working alongside the state’s attorney general.

Steven Combs, 45, began serving as the director of the Criminal Justice Standards Division for the North Carolina Department of Justice Monday after two decades in law enforcement, including a 15-year stint with the State Bureau of Investigation in its Jacksonville Office as its assistant special agent.

“It feels good,” Combs said about his new position. “I’m excited about the new challenges...we’ll be working toward serving the criminal justice officers in North Carolina.”

Combs will lead the Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, which oversees education and employment requirements for police officers. According to Combs, North Carolina police officers are among the best prepared in the nation.

“We set very high standards in North Carolina,” Combs said. “I want to continue and promote these great standards and assist the commission we serve to make the changes that are necessary.”

Combs said he’s known he wanted to be in law enforcement from the time he was a teenager attending Jacksonville High School. After graduating in 1986, Combs studied at Coastal Carolina Community College before transferring to East Carolina University, where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in criminal justice. The following year, he started a five-year tenure with the Raleigh Police Department, where he was assigned to the downtown beat. Combs described the experience as a challenge that confirmed his desire to remain in law enforcement.

“It was eye opening,” Combs said. “There was heavy drug dealing and violence, and I had never seen anything like it. The harder it was, though, the more rewarding it was because you’re helping people while arresting others.”

In 1998, Combs returned to Jacksonville and took on the SBI job. Combs said the position allowed him to see the diverse ways police departments functioned, including the number of personnel with whom they worked.

“I’ve been able to work with departments that may have had two or three working, as well as departments with over 200 people working,” Combs said. “My work with (SBI) has helped me sharpen my skills at dealing with people.”

Attorney Roy Cooper, who could not be immediately reached for comment, said in a press release that Combs had the “experience and knowledge” for the position.

That sentiment was shared by Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown.

“(Combs) is an upstanding, fine person.” Brown said. “He’s a team player...I have all the confidence in the world with what he will do in his new assignment.”

Combs said he doesn’t have any plans for what he wants to do with the position, saying he still has a lot to learn, but says he plans on working with the attorney general and his office to form a plan and go from there.

Christopher Thomas is a staff writer for the Daily News. To contact him, call 910-219-8473 or send an e-mail to christopher.thomas@jdnews.com.